The purpose of
Deep Space 1 was technology development and validation for future missions; 12 technologies were tested: • Solar Electric Propulsion • Solar Concentrator Arrays • Multi-functional Structure • Miniature Integrated Camera and Imaging Spectrometer • Ion and Electron Spectrometer • Small Deep Space Transponder • Ka-Band Solid State Power Amplifier • Beacon Monitor Operations • Autonomous Remote Agent • Low Power Electronics • Power Actuation and Switching Module • Autonomous Navigation
Autonav The Autonav system, developed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, takes images of known bright
asteroids. The asteroids in the inner Solar System move in relation to other bodies at a noticeable, predictable speed. Thus a spacecraft can determine its relative position by tracking such asteroids across the star background, which appears fixed over such timescales. Two or more asteroids let the spacecraft triangulate its position; two or more positions in time let the spacecraft determine its trajectory. Existing spacecraft are tracked by their interactions with the transmitters of the
NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), in effect an inverse
GPS. However, DSN tracking requires many skilled operators, and the DSN is overburdened by its use as a communications network. The use of Autonav reduces mission cost and DSN demands. The Autonav system can also be used in reverse, tracking the position of bodies relative to the spacecraft. This is used to acquire targets for the scientific instruments. The spacecraft is programmed with the target's coarse location. After initial acquisition, Autonav keeps the subject in frame, even commandeering the spacecraft's attitude control. The next spacecraft to use Autonav was
Deep Impact.
SCARLET concentrating solar array Primary power for the mission was produced by a new solar array technology, the Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear Element Technology (SCARLET), which uses linear
Fresnel lenses made of
silicone to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells. ABLE Engineering developed the concentrator technology and built the solar array for DS1, with Entech Inc, who supplied the Fresnel optics, and the NASA
Glenn Research Center. The activity was sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, developed originally for the SSI - Conestoga 1620 payload, METEOR. The concentrating lens technology was combined with dual-junction solar cells, which had considerably better performance than the
GaAs solar cells that were the state of the art at the time of the mission launch. The SCARLET arrays generated 2.5 kilowatts at 1 AU, with less size and weight than conventional arrays.
NSTAR ion engine Although
ion engines had been developed at NASA since the late 1950s, with the exception of the
SERT missions in the 1960s, the technology had not been demonstrated in flight on United States spacecraft, though hundreds of
Hall-effect engines had been used on Soviet and Russian spacecraft. This lack of a performance history in space meant that despite the potential savings in propellant mass, the technology was considered too experimental to be used for high-cost missions. Furthermore, unforeseen side effects of ion propulsion might in some way interfere with typical scientific experiments, such as fields and particle measurements. Therefore, it was a primary mission of the
Deep Space 1 demonstration to show long-duration use of an ion thruster on a scientific mission. The
NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR)
electrostatic ion thruster, developed at NASA Glenn, achieves a
specific impulse of 1000–3000 seconds. This is an order of magnitude higher than traditional space propulsion methods, resulting in a mass savings of approximately half. This leads to much cheaper launch vehicles. Although the engine produces just thrust at maximal power (2,100 W on DS1), the craft achieved high speeds because ion engines thrust continuously for long periods.
Remote Agent Remote Agent (RAX), remote intelligent self-repair software developed at NASA's
Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the first artificial-intelligence control system to control a spacecraft without human supervision. Remote Agent successfully demonstrated the ability to plan onboard activities and correctly diagnose and respond to simulated faults in spacecraft components through its built-in REPL environment. Autonomous control will enable future spacecraft to operate at greater distances from Earth and to carry out more sophisticated science-gathering activities in deep space. Components of the Remote Agent software have been used to support other NASA missions. Major components of Remote Agent were a robust planner (EUROPA), a plan-execution system (EXEC) and a model-based diagnostic system (Livingstone).
PEPE Once at a target, DS1 senses the particle environment with the PEPE (Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration) instrument. This instrument measured the flux of ions and electrons as a function of their energy and direction. The composition of the ions was determined by using a
time-of-flight mass spectrometer.
MICAS The MICAS (Miniature Integrated Camera And
Spectrometer) instrument combined visible light imaging with infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopy to determine chemical composition. All channels share a telescope, which uses a
silicon carbide mirror. Both PEPE and MICAS were similar in capabilities to larger instruments or suites of instruments on other spacecraft. They were designed to be smaller and require lower power than those used on previous missions. ==Mission overview==